See the full review @ http://www.idiotbox.co.uk/pac-man-ghostly-adventures-360-review/

I’m putting this out there now, I haven’t nor do I intend on seeing the TV series this is based on. I genuinely don’t think I am young/stoned enough to thoroughly enjoy it plus I’m very much of the opinion that old-school game characters should never be given voices. It upset me enough when Sonic wasSee the full review @ http://www.idiotbox.co.uk/pac-man-ghostly-adventures-360-review/

I’m putting this out there now, I haven’t nor do I intend on seeing the TV series this is based on. I genuinely don’t think I am young/stoned enough to thoroughly enjoy it plus I’m very much of the opinion that old-school game characters should never be given voices. It upset me enough when Sonic was made into a radical skateboarding teenager I don’t wish to see PAC-MAN defiled with the same brush. All he wants to do is eat ghosts and bang Ms. PAC-MAN, is that really too much to ask??

When the game kicks off it seems to lull you into a false sense of security because it starts with the original PAC-MAN theme which should be considered a classic of modern music. Unfortunately this soon degrades into, well I don’t even know what it was but it was insane and it made me feel like I was on a bad trip. This is not what I want from my videogames! As the actual game begins you are introduced to some of the main characters, now to the young players of the game who watch the show this will probably mean more but to anyone who hasn’t this was honestly one of the most painful and lazily written pieces of scripting I have ever come across. Let me give you a quick run down of the story:

Pacopolis is under attack by the evil “Betrayus” who has launched a ghost attack on the city. They may have given a motive but for the life of me I can’t remember what it was and after playing through the game I’m genuinely none the wiser…

With the intricate and mind-bending storyline out of the way you are let loose to actually play the game. Congratulations, after 5 minutes of play time you have practically covered all there is on offer. You run around, you eat ghosts and keep their eyes (creepy!!), every now and then you pick up a power berry which gives you temporary super powers (more on this in a bit), you eat more ghosts, you reach the fruit at the end, PAC-MAN burps up all the eyes he’s devoured through the level, you go to the next level. I wish I could say that I was being overly pedantic but unfortunately this is all there is to the main game! There is the option of doing extra bonus levels along the way but they play out exactly the the regular ones except there’s a coin at the end instead of fruit. Woop…

Now the last thing we need to discuss and I need to get this out there. I for one love comedy and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with throwing the odd pun around here and there but my lord! The sheer amount of puns that you are assaulted with in this game goes beyond reasonable levels and moves into the realm of a comedian having a mental breakdown while on crack! Let me give you some of the personal low points I witnessed:

The Ice Power Up turns you into “Ice-PAC”
When you freeze a ghost it shouts “not cool, oh wait…”
When you turn into balloon PAC and inflate he says “I have an inflated opinion of myself”
When you turn into Magnet PAC he says “I’m feeling magnetic”

I need to stop there because I can feel my will to live draining through my fingers with every key pressed……Expand

For all its flaws and the questionable attempts to modernise the Pac-Man format, you can’t fault Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures for being a run-of-the-mill, inoffensive (except for the biting) platformer.